BLUE vs HILLS: David vs Goliath
The pet food advertising battle…
Blue Buffalo, makers of a quality dog and cat food, have come up with the ‘True Blue’ Test. You can go to their site, and compare a number of
brands against their food, seeing what the top 5 ingredients are, and then get additional information comparing nutritive value.
But there are NO Hill’s/Science Diet Products to compare.
Hmmmmmmm
Hills took offense to the advertising.
The National Advertising Division has recommended that Blue Buffalo Company, Ltd., manufacturer of BLUE Brand Pet Food Products, modify certain advertising claims to avoid disparaging competing pet food makers.
Fair enough- BUT Hills is owned by COLGATE- yes the toothpaste conglomerate, and BLUE is a small, family owned company.
But Hills/Colgate decided to use the ‘negative’ press against BLUE in their advertising.
Then this.. (from dvm 360)
Hill’s chastised for highlighting dispute with Blue Buffalo for self promotion
Advertising regulator arbitrates long-running dispute between two pet food companies.
Hill’s Pet Nutrition violated advertising protocols by touting the fact that a competitor was chastised for disparaging other pet food companies,
according to the National Advertising Division (NAD), an advertising-industry self-regulation group.
After the rulings by NAD and NARB, Hill’s Pet Nutrition’s public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller, sent sample blog posts and fact sheets
highlighting the Hill’s/Blue Buffalo dispute to a number of bloggers.
Not cool.
Definitely unethical.
But this does emphasize what the company really values.
Profit above ALL else.
I know which company’s food I would feed my dogs and cats, and it won’t be from a Toothpaste Conglomerate…
As an aside, here is some of what I think should be in/not in a quality dog and cat food, and it just so happens is in BLUE Buffalo
STARTS with real chicken
CONTAINS veggies & fruit
DOESN’T contain corn, wheat or soy
DOESN’T contain grain protein & gluten concentrates
DOESN’T contain artificial colors, flavors or preservatives
Best Wishes,
Andrew Jones,DVM
P.S. Of all the things you do to prevent disease, FOOD is most important, so be thoughtful about it.
Quality pet food, will cost more, but the health benefits are completely worth it.
I also suggest feeding a quality supplement- it doesn’t need to be mine, but should include specific ingredients to maintain your pet’s immune system; Probiotics, Colostrum, Antioxidants Essential Fatty Acids.
They are all in my supplements, and thousands of dog and cat owners have had great results using them.